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Lim Kit Siang, Lim Guan Eng, Ketua Pemuda Umno and the absence of christian apologists
Lim Kit Siang and his ilk (including his son, Lim Guan Eng) will never fail us in delivering spiteful and racist festive messages promoting hate among the people of Malaysia.
Lim Guan Eng in his infamous Wesak Day speech some time ago was even more acrimonious and vindictive. He seditiously tried to agitate the buddhists and the christians against the malays and muslims.
Malicious people are incorrigible. Malaysia is truly unfortunate to have this father-son combo who preach fairness/equality and peace but in reality, a hypocritical duo of antagonists who will not hesitate to use religion, racism and dictatorial tactics just to attain and retain power.
Compared to the Prime Minister’s Christmas message which are inclusive and even reconciliatory, Lim Kit Siang’s holiday message seemed to be a call to religious war of sorts. Will Lim Kit Siang see the faint light at the end of the tunnel and change for the better in the twilight of his years? Don’t hold your breath.
The Ketua Pemuda Umno too wrote a Christmas message in his facebook account. Although he claimed that it is not a standard christmas greeting by politicians, it is in fact a standard festive greeting usually written by malay apologists in web columns such as The Malaysian Insider.
He wrote:
This is not going to be a standard Christmas message. I thought this year, let’s not have someone draft the same generic message that politicians get their office to churn out year in, year out.
I went to a Catholic primary school in Japan. Unlike most convent schools in Malaysia, my school was run by Canadian Catholic priests. Many of my teachers were priests. Brother Raymond, a tall, curly-haired Québécois was once such teacher who left an impression on me about hard work and fair play.
Everyday we would begin school with prayer. For non-Christians like me we just bowed our head in silence out of respect while Christian students prayed. Sometimes I would recite the Al Fatihah quietly to myself. Sometimes I would just daydream.
There was a crucifix in every classroom. Brother Raymond wore a big cross around his neck on a chain on top of his black clerical shirt. Many of my friends went for their Holy Communion and had their pictures taken for the yearbook.
We all sang in a choir. When it came to Christmas, non-Christians also sang the non-religious songs. I think some even sang the religious songs but just kept quiet during certain lines!
I went to my friends’ houses for Christmas. I was given presents. My parents were well prepared so I brought presents with me also to give to my hosts.
None of this affected my own faith. My parents instilled in me a strong foundation in Islam. I led congregational prayers among my peers when I was small. I took part in Quran recitals organised by the embassy. Nothing I experienced at my Catholic school could undermine or shake my faith.
The point of my brief recollection is this: have faith in your own faith. If your belief is strong, no one can make you lose your religion.
And if you are sure of your own convictions, you will respect others even more. You won’t view them as a threat, as people secretly working to proselytise you. You might even learn from them as I did from Brother Raymond.
To everyone celebrating, have a happy Christmas.
What a touching christmas greeting. It is more of chastising the malay muslims here in Malaysia, rather than a direct message for the Christians here. Hence, due to his capacity as Ketua Pemuda Umno, he feels that it is his right to straighten his fellow muslims and therefore, a tacit apology for non-muslims for the behaviour of his fellow muslim brothers and sisters. In this regard since it is the Christmas period, the implied apology is for the christians.
It is certainly not wrong to ask for forgiveness and extend the olive branch. Thank you Ketua Pemuda for apologising on our behalf. A liberal will always be an apologist for his race.
Hopefully during Hari Raya Aidilfitri there will be christian politicians who will write in their Facebook like below. We have took the liberty to copy the Ketua Pemuda’s message and interchange certain keywords to fit the Hari Raya message appropriately:
This is not going to be a standard Hari Raya message. I thought this year, let’s not have someone draft the same generic message that politicians get their office to churn out year in, year out.
I went to a national primary school in Johor. Unlike most national schools in Malaysia, my school was run predominantly by malay muslims. Our headmaster was a strict ustaz. Many of my teachers were religious malay muslims. Cikgu Rizal, a tall, curly-haired malay was once such teacher who left an impression on me about hard work and fair play.
Everyday we would begin school with prayer. For non-Muslims like me we just bowed our head in silence out of respect while muslim students prayed. Sometimes I would recite some psalms quietly to myself. Sometimes I would just daydream.
There was an Allah inscription in every classroom. Cikgu Rizal wore a songkok and carries a small Yassin book whenever he goes. Many of my friends went for their Khatam Quran in the afternoon religious class and had their pictures taken for the yearbook.
We all sang in a choir. When it came to Hari Raya, non-Muslims also sang the non-religious songs. I think some even sang the religious songs but just kept quiet during certain lines!
I went to my friends’ houses for Hari Raya. I was given duit raya too and eat their Raya food.
None of this affected my own faith. My parents instilled in me a strong foundation in Christianity. I attend mass on Sundays with my peers when I was small. I took part in catholic choirs organised by the local church. Nothing I experienced at my primary school could undermine or shake my faith.
The point of my brief recollection is this: have faith in your own faith. If your belief is strong, no one can make you lose your religion.
And if you are sure of your own convictions, you will respect others even more. You won’t view them as a threat, as people secretly working to undermine your religion. You might even learn from them as I did from Cikgu Rizal.
To everyone celebrating, Selamat Hari Raya Aidifitri.
Will Hannah Yeoh write something similar? Will Lim Guan Eng pose this kind of messages?
For certain, only the malays are more tolerant and reconciliatory. Spiteful and racist politicians especially from DAP do not apologise for who they are.
We now have popular Umno leaders
“Perhaps the less we have, the more we are required to brag.”
- John Steinbeck from his book, East of Eden
The majority of the thinking society would feel that a political leader needs to be inherently intelligent enough to know that doing things right is paramount than doing things just to be popular.
Take for example the previous Prime Minister. He wanted to do things which will make him popular with a few factions of people which in the end, led him to become the shortest serving Prime Minister in the history of Malaysia (at 5 years and 5 months, less than Tun Hussein Onn’s at 5 years and 6 months).
Being popular is good for a career in politics but that must be complimented with genuine hardwork and results which people can really see and experienced.
If wanting to be popular for the sake of being popular then people can easily see through the leaders’ smokescreen and be exposed as fake, or a con-artist. Not so much a leader, but a buffoon trying too hard to be popular.
The current Prime Minister and his cabinet has this tendency to be popular with the masses while disregarding the concept of good leadership. We can see the apex of the attempts to gain popularity concocted up by his advisors during the run up of the recent general election.
Ranging from giving too much money to vernacular schools, running election campaigns much akin to the US Presidential election (personality-driven) rather than a cohesive, BN driven (coalition-centric) campaigns, repealing important laws just to pander towards opposition sponsored ‘human rights’, etc.
But all these bending over backwards just to become popular did not yield the returns that they had hoped for. In fact, just as we had foreseen, the majority of the people saw it through and were not impressed. Popularity is never about one-off announcements to wow the crowd. It has never been about shock-factor (just to borrow a few of consultants’ jargons), quick-wins or ‘picking the low hanging fruits’.
Having a crowd to pat you on the back after giving out goodies to people will not make you more popular.
Even Winston Churchill kept perspective on the crowds that gathered to hear him speak by conceding they would be twice as big if they gathered to see him hanged.
Popularity is a series of leadership by example, a series of doing the right things and not flip flopping on decisions that will make you be seen as less intelligent. Above all, popularity will come when you do not seek it.
It’s all about action and results.
Actively trying to be popular without any substance to begin with will only make you look pathetic. Just look at Anwar Ibrahim for example. Those with critical thinking knew him as a snake oil salesman, who would sell his principles just to be popular. Even a foreign publication had called him a chameleon.
Even in his hey days of popularity back in 90s, that couldn’t make him last long in politics. As history sees it, his popularity did not save him from falling in disgrace – exposed for his inefficient handling of the 1998 currency crisis and engaged in morally wrong conduct.
On the contrary and of course as a lesson to the current crop of leaders, going against the tide will often make you last longer in politics.
Take Tun Dr. Mahathir Mohamad for example. He did several unpopular things during his premiership which will bring dread even to the most courageous of politicians. He sacked Anwar Ibrahim at the height of his deputy’s popularity, he clashed against the monarchy and kept their behaviours in check when a few of the rulers were misbehaving and unruly towards the people. These were extremely unpopular decisions at that time and could spell an end to a political career if popularity is what a leader seek.
But it was the right thing to do and Tun Mahathir did it because it was good for the people.
He even agreed to accept all 600,000 members of Semangat 46 back into Umno’s fold in 1996 for the sake of malay unity – a decision which was highly unpopular among Umno members when the likes of Rais Yatim, Tengku Razaleigh and Shabery Cheek returned to Umno after nearly 8 years as an opposition in Semangat 46.
In 1984, after Musa Hitam defeated Tengku Razaleigh again for the post of deputy president in Umno General Election, Tun Mahathir still appointed the latter as a minister eventhough Musa Hitam, a powerful Deputy Prime Minister and a Home Minister at that time was so much against it.
But he still appointed Ku Li nevertheless as the minister in MITI (albeit downgraded him from the Finance Minister post) since Ku Li is a capable leader and as the malay proverb goes – “kalah sekali, bukanlah kalah semua.”
Tun Mahathir made many unpopular decisions – be it concerning the capital controls during the currency crisis, his unwavering stance in curbing racist and religious extremists as well as his decisions to chastise the west and the jews for their hypocrisy and terrorism.
All these led him to become the longest serving (at 22 years 3 months) Prime Minister in the history of Malaysia.
Can we imagine any of the Prime Ministers after him doing such unpopular things? Of course we can’t. What is lacking in the current crop of Umno leaders is gumption and the believe of doing things right. In its place is the mistaken belief that their careers will last longer if they are popular. Unfortunately, they had got it backwards.
And it’s also a fact that Tun Mahathir is arguably the most popular Prime Minister we ever had. He is a walking and living brand and is a successful one at that. And all that stemmed from the fact of doing things right and not wanting to be popular.
How many times have we hear him say that he is merely stating the truth and do not care what people think about him? Plenty of times. He lives by his principles and sticks to it like glue.
On the contrary, what we have now are Umno leaders desperately trying to be popular.
Take for instance, the Ketua Pemuda Umno who is also the Minister of Youths and Sports. Apparently the day the kalimah Allah judgment was read out in the Courts of Appeal, the youth wing leader of agama bangsa dan negara party was more busy tweeting and promoting himself for a popularity contest.
The winner of this popularity contest will be announced this Saturday
The Shout Awards is a popularity award show organised by Media Prima to honour popular artists in the field of music, tv, movies and radio.
But lo and behold, a minister crept in and found himself in the nominees list as well!
How more pitiful (deserving or arousing pity) can you be when you are already a minister but still want to vie in a popularity contest? A contest where you are not really in sync with any of the categories mentioned.
Truly this is a new low for Pemuda Umno and Umno as a whole. In the face of current issues facing the party and the malays such as the attacks on the kalimah ruling by the liberals, as well as on other fronts, did the Pemuda Umno made any statements to defend the position? The only notable but half hearted statement by Pemuda Umno was when they seek explanation over news of US spying from its KL embassy.
Apart from that, the now liberal Pemuda Umno Malaysia is more than happy to enter popularity contests or collect Pakatan Rakyat leaders as their fans. God forbid, even the incorrigible Lim Kit Siang is the number one fan of Ketua Pemuda Umno now.
Nobody pointed a gun to his head and made compulsory for him to join this fluffy event. Yet he is there, tweeting and soliciting votes from the masses to vote for him for this award.
The ridiculousness of this glam-craze escapade underlines a bizarre, yet comical attitude of the Ketua Pemuda in wanting to be popular at all cost. The less he have, the more he is required to brag.
But since this is an era of liberalism and where Umno leaders want to be popular regardless if they have any substance at all, we should not be surprised. The Prime Minister and his myriad of advisors themselves are also in the forefront and believer of populist movement.
Just sit back and enjoy the entertainment all these leaders are providing us. After all, Umno is now a play and some of their leaders are actors.
Thank you.
_____________________________
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“Buruk ketuanya, buruklah pengikutnya”
For the past couple of weeks there have been no articles regarding the upcoming Umno elections in this blog. It was on purpose because this Umno election, well at least to the opinion of this blogger will not see much change. Whether specifically on the line-up or generally on Umno itself.
We can bet, after the winners have been announced and the confetti being swept away clean, and after the party president gave an arousing speech that the new (more or less) line-up will pave way for a new and re-energised Umno, the party will revert to its old ways of doing things.
This blog tried to stay away from commenting on the candidates because honestly, there are bigger things to ponder about.
But when a known stooge of the incumbent Ketua Pemuda unfairly ridiculed the father of an Umno Vice President candidate through his tweets, then this blog just had to say something about him and his boss – the Ketua Pemuda. Something along the line – ‘kokok berderai-derai, ekor bergelumang tahi’.
Obviously trying to mock Tun Mahathir and his son
Obtusely disparaging Tun Dr Mahathir
Since the Ketua Pemuda and his lackeys have no due regards towards the older generation and had extensively in every turn tried to denigrate the grand old man in very way possible, let us then write something about the Ketua Pemuda just to remind his pack of mongrels to look in the mirror first before poking their noses where they don’t belong.
First off, we begin with these few paragraphs which were written back in November 2008:
Since 2004, Umno is permeated with a culture of being ‘biadap’ to its illustrious former president. This culture of running down their own former leader was one of the factor Umno lost the support from many of its own members.
When Pak Lah and followers were rude to Tun Dr Mahathir, many were turned off by their diatribe. The 4th floor boys were working overtime in discrediting Tun Dr Mahathir. Even NST, Umno’s own newspaper were used to criticise the grand old man. An astute blogger, Datuk Sakmongkol had succinctly put it in a few words;
“The present administration is distinguished in its feverish attempts to discredit as much as possible the legacy of Tun Dr Mahathir. Hence the open ended freedom to strike and assassinate given to political storm troopers like Obergruppenfuhrer Musa Hitam, the purveyor of the term elegant silence plus the barking Rottweilers and Dobermans like Nazri Aziz, Sabry Cheek, Azalina Othman, Ismail Sabri, Zaid Ibrahim, Zaid Hamidi and the man who claimed to be primus inter pares- Shahrir ‘the silverback’ Samad.”
Summarily, they still do not realise their mistake. This barrage of criticisms prolonged even after the general election.
When Samy Vellu was criticising Tun, where were the Umno Youth wing to defend their own leader? Again, as aptly said by Datuk Sakmongkol in one of his earlier writings;
“When Tun Dr Mahathir was his boss, Samy Vellu did not find anything wrong with Tun Mahathir. In fact, Samy Vellu was the greatest apple polisher Tun Mahathir had. Indeed sometimes Samy was more Mahathir that Tun himself. Who shall ever forget, Samy’s act of filial devotion by hand feeding Tun Mahathir with a Deepavali morsel?
Meanwhile in UMNOland, it was All Quiet On The Western Front. Not a single UMNO leader defended their one time president. This man was the UMNO president for 22 years. Their dreadful and shameless behaviour confirms my belief that all these UMNO leaders must be resign en bloc from their MKT positions. If they cannot defend their own leader, how can we ever hope they will protect us? Let the UMNO electorate now judge you.”
With this kind of scenario, I am surprised that Khairy Jamaluddin still do not get it. When many of his underlings in the form of pro KJ blogs are condemning Tun left right and centre, one left to wonder if he could really learn any lesson.
…
Until now, there is one question that can never be answered comprehensively by KJ and his followers.
“What was the basis, the merit and the reason that enable KJ to be elected unopposed to the post of Deputy Umno Youth Head of Malaysia in 2004?”
And yet, he and his bloggers have no qualms in ridiculing Tun in the blogosphere. In their effort of criticising their political rival Datuk Mukhriz, the only modus operandi of these cyber troopers resort to is to question Mukhriz’s pedigree and his father’s.
I cannot help but to be amused with this. Because, if I were to take the same route, I can also compare Tun with KJ’s own father in law in the process. A feat I would happily relish.
Since they assume that today, Tun Dr. Mahathir is protecting and promoting his son, let’s go down memory lane and read this:
Back in 2009 during the pervious Umno election, the current Ketua Pemuda was caught by the Disciplinary Board of Umno but was able to continue on despite the money politics charges. It was written:
Datuk Seri Mohd Ali Rustam
Verdict : GUILTY
Action : BARRED FROM CONTESTING
Khairy Jamaluddin
Verdict : GUILTY
Action : STILL ABLE TO CONTEST
Datuk Seri Mohd Khir Toyo
Verdict : CLEARED OF ANY WRONG DOING
Action : STATUS QUO
My take? It will be interesting to see whether Umno Youth delegates would still want to vote a candidate that was deemed guilty of money politics. Umno disciplinary board had made mockery of all Umno members. I can imagine the headlines should KJ wins the contest next week:
“KJ BECOMES UMNO YOUTH CHIEF DESPITE BEING GUILTY OF MONEY POLITICS”
Can anyone takes a guess how did the son in law of the Prime Minister at that time could be let off so easily even after being caught in money politics? The only possible explanation is because he had blatantly said time and time again that he will use the protection from his father in law to attain his ambition.
He actually said:
“There’s a certain extent (to which) these people in Umno will not go after me. So it gives me ‘protection’ to change things.
“If I don’t use this ‘protection’ to change things for the better, then I’m just wasting time and marking my time to go up the ladder of politics. That’s not what I am about.
“I want to use this time that I have while I have this ‘protection’ to change things, to change Umno for the better,” he said yesterday during a question-and-answer session at the Kancil Awards Festival Speakers series.
Yes, he is not about to wait his time and patiently and slowly go up the ladder of hierarchy like other people. He unashamedly said that he will USE his position as son-in-law to change things! But judging from what we can see for the past 9 years, Umno didn’t become better. The only changes we have seen is him, promoting himself and going up the leadership hierarchy in record time – just like what he said he would.
And yet, the underlings, those sycophants of this Ketua Pemuda had the gall to tell us that he is where he is now because of his own merit?!
These yes-men must have gone full retard!
The only reason why he is in the race as Ketua Pemuda back in 2009 was because he won unopposed as its deputy in 2004. That is not merit. That is nepotism.
The reason he became Ketua Pemuda was because the Disciplinary Board of Umno felt that it needs to give protection to a corrupt candidate guilty of money politics, which of course he won the race.
In 2008, Barisan Nasional did not get the majority votes from the youth. In 2013, Barisan Nasional fared even worse than in 2008 with the majority of youths again, did not vote for Barisan Nasional. Now what have Ketua Pemuda Umno and BN Youth Chairman had to say about that?
Well in not so many words he said – I have fulfilled my KPI and must be made a minister. Again, that misplaced arrogance and misguided sense of self-entitledment.
The reason he became a minister is because he is the Ketua Pemuda Umno. That’s it.
The only thing that was accomplished by him is that he is now loved by the leaders from Pakatan Rakyat. All the Barisan Nasional Youth Fair, all the BN Job Fair and all his other initiatives he had concocted, did all those manage to gain votes from the youth? Of course it didn’t. Otherwise BN could have gained a few more seats. What it did gain is increase of his popularity.
In other words, BN Youth Wing and Umno Youth Wing do not understand the basics of voters’ mentality. Even from his speeches, the Ketua Pemuda is way off tangent in understanding the basics of Umno’s raison d’etre. His political speeches once suffered a few criticism from yours truly and a few bloggers.
The problem with this Ketua Pemuda is that he wasn’t brought up within the ambient of Umno’s struggle. Most of his life, he spent it away from this country. He can be termed as liberal and somewhat progressive. The only reason why he is even in Umno is because that is where the power lies. And with power, comes the many forms of benefits such as – twitter toadies.
It is not a sin to be liberal and progressive. The only problem is the apparent dichotomy of being liberal philosophically but trapped in a right wing party.
And when you surround yourself with like-minded liberals as your groupies, then it takes a toll in your reputation from within the party. Although being thick skinned is this particular Ketua Pemuda’s trademark, being wise is certainly not.
This Ketua Pemuda wants to be liberal in Umno and be looked upon as liberal in national politics as well.
Therein lies the problem and the central theme on why he is not trusted by most grassroot Umno members.
The Ketua Pemuda of Umno must always be seen as the protector of malay rights and the Constitution. This must be seen even in national stage and beyond. For if the Ketua Pemuda is too liberal and is friendly towards the enemies of malay rights and the Constitution (like how he as successfully achieved), then any speeches he made within Umno’s context is deemed as hypocritical.
You cannot be a left wing at national level but right wing at party levels. It just doesn’t make sense. That would be called, playing to the gallery.
We usually will never trust liars
And what is worse about this Ketua Pemuda, he changes tact at a drop of the hat. At one time he kissed the keris to protect the malay rights when he made speeches during a party assembly, but at certain times, he wants to make Umno more centrist.
Confused much?
Now if at national level Umno is being attacked from all corners, who is there to protect the malay rights and it’s position in the Constitution? The liberal Minister of Youth and Sports? Or the sometimes conservative, sometimes centrist but most of the times confused Ketua Pemuda?
The right way to do things as an Umno leader in this multiracial country is to be right wing at national level (nationalistic, patriotic, protecting the Constitution, defending malay rights) but be very strong in advocating progress in the thinking of Umno members (malays must be progressive, must not rely on the crutches forever, must attain meritocracy etc). That way Umno as a party will progress and yet its position at national level is defended.
You can’t be both liberals at national level AND at party levels.
Currently we have one Prime Minister who tries to inculcate moderation and liberal ideas at national front but during Umno assembly, made fiery remarks on how he will protect malay rights.
It doesn’t makes sense for the 3 million Umno members.
His actions in launching damning initiatives towards the malay agenda since 2009 did not help his cause. That is why when he recently announced a few policies to help the bumiputera community last month, it was immediately deemed as pandering towards the upcoming Umno elections. Thank God (for him) that he was unchallenged. Therefore, there could be a risk that those policies will not be pursued with vigour after all.
And we also do not understand why this Ketua Pemuda has this nonsensical urge to spew rhetoric:
Khairy Jamaluddin, who looks set to be returned unopposed as Umno Youth chief, will use his second term to cultivate a more centrist approach for the wing that has traditionally been a pressure group.
He said that being vocal in expressing right-wing sentiment in defending the interests of the party was no longer appropriate.
“I am trying to change the DNA of Umno Youth from being mostly right-wing and Malay-centric to a more centrist wing that focuses on issues and their solutions,” Khairy said in an interview.
Will focussing on issues and solutions brings back votes from the youth to Barisan Nasional and Umno? What are the examples of Pemuda Umno focussing on issues and providing solutions that had gained majority flocks of votes into the fold of Barisan Nasional in the last general election?
Before this article gets too carried away, just a stark reminder to those who want to ridicule other people – please look at the non-accomplishments of your Ketua Pemuda first before criticising others.
Some of this yes-men of the Ketua Pemuda may argue that this blog is trying to ‘bodek’ Tun Dr. Mahathir. But unlike the Ketua Pemuda, Tun Dr. Mahathir has no say in the government and has no powers in Umno. He only has his words and charisma. There is nothing to gain by defending Tun Dr. Mahathir. This is done just by the sheer respect he commands.
Not many leaders have that capability. Most people only command respect when they are in the position of power. Something most Umno leaders past and present often forgot.
This is not an article to dent the chances of the Ketua Pemuda to retain his seat. We have no doubt that he will win with a big margin. He has done that before in 2009 and he will do it again. Umno members especially the Pemuda have no ability to discern between what is good and what is bad for them anyway. This article is just for the lackeys of Ketua Pemuda and hopefully they remember the kind of person they are supporting. There is actually nothing to be proud of. Like some old wise men always say “Buruk ketuanya buruk lah pengikutnya. Pengikut kurang ajar, pemimpin hilang maruah”.
Just as mentioned at the start of this article, this wouldn’t have been written if it’s not because of a few uncouth people.
The case of Khairy – won the social media, lost the votes
I want to applaud a blogger at the blogsite http://www.fatimahzuhri.blogspot.com for a really good article on history. As someone who is fascinated with the history subject, I can’t help but to agree with what the blogger Fatimah Zuhri had to say.
Below are some of the snippets of the said article – you can read the whole article (please do) by clicking the link I provided above. There are many more gems in the original article.
Open letter to Malaysian: Why do we need to learn history?
Dear Malaysians,
1. Today, the Prime Minister has appointed a controversial figure (let us name him Mr KJ) to become a Minister. Since we are living in a free and open democracy, please allow me to give my opinion on this appointment.
2. Firstly, I respect the Prime Minister prerogative in appointing his cabinet but that does not mean we should stay silent.
3. Exactly 30 years ago, a controversial bloke (let us called him Mr AI) was appointed as a full minister – Minister of Culture, Youth and Sports. He was appointed to this ministerial position after he defeated SK for the Youth Leader position the year before. He was also at that time a member of Parliament after winning the PP seat.
…..
5. AI was and still is considered the best in terms of oratory skill in Malaysian politics. Many of the world dictators are brilliant orator – Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini. Mao, etc . In Multi level marketing (MLM), you sell yourself and your product to get people attention. In Pasar Seni, fraudsters sells snake oil to get people attention and usually they will show documents and so called ‘evidence’ to get people attention.
Similarly, Mr KJ is also a good orator. He uses his academic credential as his testimonial. When someone try to criticize him, his supporters will throw the J-word. His products? When he first came to prominence, he was selling the Malay agenda as his product. He was so adamant of this agenda that one of his goons provoked the then Youth Leader to show ‘the keris’. However, lately, he has change his tune and try to re-brand his product similar to what Mr AI did.
…..
7. It will be most interesting to see in the next couple of years how Mr KJ will use his position to influence the youth. My bet is that he will exactly do what Mr AI did when he was KBS and then later on, Education Minister. Back then, Mr AI abused his position to make himself an idol for the youth. Instead of promoting UMNO as a brand, he was promoting himself as the brand. This self-branding was continued in a large scale effort when he was appointed Minister of Education.
For the past 5 years, Mr KJ has done nothing as Youth Leader to improve the perception amongst the youth towards his party. Instead, he was busy promoting KJ as the brand, as a result he is considerably well-known in the social media world. This is just a sample of things to come.
…..
9. There is no such thing as new politics. Politics is old. When Mr AI was DPM, he used his minions in the mainstream media to project an aura of ‘greatness’. Mr KJ uses social media to project his ‘greatness’. At the end of the day, the objective and the desired result is still the same. Mr Prime Minister, you were with Mr AI since the Youth days, are you too blind to see that Mr KJ is exactly like him? I do understand it is politically suicidal if Mr KJ was not given a position since he has branded himself well especially amongst the youth. So in GE14, please put him in a mixed or Chinese majority seat in Klang Valley.
A pretty good read I reckon.
Which is all true nevertheless. When Khairy Jamaluddin was not selected to be in the cabinet in 2009 and was given the amanah by the Prime Minister to concentrate on the youth and get them to vote for Barisan Nasional, he did none of that.
Instead, he cultivated idol worshipping among the easily impressed younglings. Instead of getting the young voters to vote for Barisan Nasional, he stressed on his own public image. He created the Barisan Nasional Youth Volunteer fan club just to help elevate his brand. The Khairy 2.0 is what his sycophants had chanted back in 2009.
But in stark contrast, this Umno Youth leader never did get any new votes from the newly registered young voters nor any votes from the fence sitters below 40. Did Barisan Nasional as a whole get the majority of votes from voters below 40 years old?
Hence, the illusion that was created, the hype that has been bandied around that Khairy is a ‘rising star’ is exactly just that – a hype. When the twitter army created through BNYV and other groupies specifically tasked to bomb the social media with his ‘endeavours’ and ‘effort’, it didn’t translate into what the PM had hoped for.
Moreover, the social media unit of Umno Youth is more disjointed than ever with wrong strategies being placed. If Khairy had given more focus onto the Umno Youth wing, perhaps this could be avoided. But individualistic tendencies kept him focussed on his personal vehicle – the social media and the BNYV.
Just like how Anwar Ibrahim did with NST and Utusan back in the 90s, Khairy is using the social media to further his political exploits. Up until Wednesday, that exploits went into viral when his minions pre-empted the PM himself by saying their leader may not be appointed as minister because a former premier is against it. As a result, out of the blue, the old man’s name was dragged into the social media ruckus.
If Tun Mahathir wants to weaken the PM, he wouldn’t have campaigned tirelessly for him. And is KJ really pro-Najib?
Nevertheless, if their ‘exalted’ leader couldn’t get into the cabinet, the minions’ own future and potential benefits will look dim. And yet these are the same people who said, this is not the time for divisive personal interest.
How pathetic for some silly people to even drag a statesman into their own psywar just because they themselves are afraid of their own future. The statesman had been a minister for nearly 30 years and Prime Minister for 22 years and still, some wet behind the ear politician and his lackeys felt the need to vilify him? Just because he is afraid he couldn’t get to be a minister?
Please bear in mind it was only in early April he offered not to contest in GE13. Perhaps the article – drama or greed, would be the best read for this kind of situation.
But the fact of the matter is this – we need to be wary when history is repeating itself. From just plain observation, we can see that Khairy is not sincere in helping the party nor the coalition. Yes he revel himself in debates with opposition figures. But that is just to promote himself among the savvy youths. But did Barisan Nasional win more votes from the youth?
No.
In fact, the urban youths voted for Pakatan Rakyat.
There is also this principle that one must always use in politics. When the enemy hates you, you are doing the right thing. But when your political enemy is loving you, then something is indeed wrong.
In the case of Khairy, who can ever forget the fact that Rafizi Ramli invited him to join Pakatan Rakyat no less than 3 times during their debate in London last year!
Rafizi was practically begging Khairy to join Pakatan Rakyat!
And the latest incident, to the chagrin of many Barisan Nasional members and to the befuddlement of fence sitters, Lim Kit Siang complimented Khairy as if Khairy was the next best thing that came down from the celestial heavens.
One criticism of the Cabinet announced by Najib yesterday is its distinct lack of “star” or “wow” quality.
The only person who stands head and shoulder over the rest of the Cabinet line-up in intellectual prowess is the Oxford graduate, UMNO Youth leader, Khairy Jamaluddin, but who had stepped on too many toes in his heyday as the son-in-law to Tun Abdullah in the brief period his father-in-law as the Prime Minister in Malaysia.
I had in fact had occasion to castigate Khairy in Parliament as the “richest unemployed youth in the world” when he was too big for his boots. I hope that in his many years in “wilderness” eating humble pie although he has UMNO Youth leader, conspicuously sidelined from government front-benches although his deputy was made Deputy Minister, have taught him the qualities of humility.
His final rehabilitation in being appointed to the Cabinet is however a great let-down, as his appointment to the comparatively minor Cabinet portfolio of Minister for Youth and Sports is a great injustice when he should be appointed to more substantive responsibilities.
In all our lives, have we ever heard Kit Siang gave such accolades to an Umno leader? Unless there is an ulterior motive to it, (such as his praise towards Tengku Razaleigh during the period where Ku Li was pandering towards Pakatan as well as the false magnanimity on Ghani Othman), Lim Kit Siang would rather lick sandpaper than to give such praises. And Kit Siang was not the only leader in Pakatan that had commended Khairy; there were many, many more. His perceived ‘value’ must be really, really high here in the political atmosphere.
And just like any other spineless and unprincipled politician of his ilk, Lim Kit Siang seemed to whitewash and forgotten all the accusations of corruption that he had levelled against Khairy pre-2008. We can see since last week, many foes from the opposition political parties that had once lambasted him had clearly forgiven him and commended his appointment. This is psychologically possible because they see him as someone who could not command the majority of youth to vote for Barisan Nasional. To vote for him, yes. But not Barisan Nasional. Obviously, this is beneficial for the opposition. Khairy and his supporters will call this – mature politics or politics of unity or politics of empathy or bipartisan politics or whatever justification his team want to sugarcoat his intimacy with the political opponents.
Newsflash, everytime the fence sitters or the easily swayed youths see a Barisan Nasional politician agreeing and pandering with Pakatan Rakyat’s politics, why would they vote for Barisan Nasional at all?
And just like how Anwar did it in the 90s, Khairy seems to appear more frequently in the mainstream media since his appointment than any other ministers more senior than him. It is on daily basis now.
But sadly, what he gave in return for the past 4 years upon being given the task by the party president was not satisfactory. Only hype. Only fluffy events. Only public relations stunts. The important thing – translating new voters and support into votes – were close to zero.
Umno Youth used to be the pressure group, the one that will act should there were any extremist groups bent on toppling the delicate balance of the social contract, were going overboard. But for the past few years, have we heard anything from Umno Youth? They seem to have lost their testicular fortitude. With regards to the current demand by Dong Zong, what is Umno Youth going to do about it? Just lay low and continue to let them rebuke those two highly respected academician and judge? Just because they were talking ACCORDING to the Constitution?
The Secretary General of DAP also wants an Umno vice president and the Home Minister to apologise over an innocuous statement. What will Umno Youth do? Issue warning through twitter bots and fake twitter accounts? If they are not sleeping, this would be the most manly thing they would do.
How about Ngeh Koo Ham’s tacit insolence towards the Sultan of Johor? Any idea when will Umno Youth let out a squeak?
All these signs are not good. The writing is on the wall. The Prime Minister is sleeping and being serenaded by dozens of advisers. If failure to perform is rewarded by ministership, then the least the Barisan Nasional supporters would demand is, to see a real change among the youths so that they will vote Barisan Nasional in the next general election. And that change certainly won’t be led by Khairy Jamaluddin. Judging by his past performance, it is beyond his selfish persona to actually work FOR the benefit of his party i.e., by getting the much needed votes. Umno Youth has become a lame duck.
Penetrate through the smokescreen and you’ll see only hype but no results.
But what can we expect from someone who got into his position not through merit? Do we honestly think he won the position of deputy Youth leader uncontested back in 2004 through pure merit? Back in 2009, although he was found guilty of corruption by the Umno disciplinary board but by virtue of being the son in law of the Prime Minister at that time he could continue to contest and eventually won the Umno YOuth chief post amidst allegations of bribery and money politics. All that is not merit. And we thought an Oxford graduate could win on his own two feet and save the world singlehandedly. Arguably, he could not even deliver Saluran 4 and 5.
Unless of course he can prove it once and for all in this new ministry whether more youth and new voters will vote for Barisan Nasional. But then again, I want to tell the ordinary Umno members, please do not get your hopes high.
The Minister in a TuneTalk T-shirt inadvertently promoting his close friend’s company.
Straigthening out YB Khairy Jamaluddin’s column
Below is an excellent article by blogger SatD of Pure Shiite. It is to reinforce the MPs into doing the right thing instead of skirting over the problem and sweeping the mess under the carpet. This mess, if left untreated, will torment your own children and grandchildren in the future. Although some of YB Khairy’s points are valid, he had completely misread the wordings in the Constitution as pointed out by the blogger SatD. I am copying the first half of his article. The juicier parts can be further digested here. You can also give your comments there. Thank you.
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YB Khairy, what “Virtual Constitutional Guarantee” are you talking about?
Dear YB Khairy.
I was recently notified of your recent column published in the Edge, thank you for having the guts to venture into the subject matter.
Allow me to reproduce your full piece for my readers.
Engage multiculturalism early on
I think the biggest elephant in the 1Malaysia room is the societal behaviour of Malaysians themselves. I do not deny that national unity suffers from politics, political parties and politicians.
People in my profession – from all parties (even those that claim to be multiracial) – are routinely guilty of ethnocentric politics, reaching out to different communities at the expense of others. Politics is also a reflection of the society that we live in. And the fact of the matter is many Malaysians still live in silos with a heightened sense of suspicion towards other ethnic communities.
But rather than philosophising about this fundamental question in generalities, I attempted to address the policy-making behind the often ephemeral question of national unity during the debate on the Agong’s Royal Address in Parliament recently.
It is often said that the reason why racial polarisation is worse today than a few generations back is simply because there is less contact and interaction now. Those who attended local universities in the 1960s and 70s will regale you with stories of how students of different ethnicity hung out together, in marked contrast to the scenes at our varsities today where posses of friends are usually mono-ethnic.
Some have pointed out that the problem starts much earlier, during the formative years of young Malaysians. The fact that today more Malaysian kids of Chinese ethnicity attend vernacular schools rather than national schools contributes to the drastic reduction in contact hours between our children.
Although many of these students end up in national secondary schools, there is already a psychological perspective that has been formed during the earlier (and arguably most impressionable) years of their education in which they grew up in largely mono-ethnic environments. Of course, there are non-Chinese students who attend Chinese vernacular schools but for the most part, the overwhelming majority of children there are from one ethnic group.
One solution to address this polarity that has been brought about by the existence of different types of schools in Malaysia has been to just have one school – the national school. Advocates for this argument say that for as long as vernacular schools exist, our kids will be separated during their formative years and will carry with them a ‘silo-ed’ worldview into their teenage years and beyond.
While there are great merits to this argument, principally the notion that all Malaysian children will be educated under one roof and all the wonderful consequences that this might have on national unity, I doubt there would be any government that would commit themselves to this. Vernacular schools are a virtually sacrosanct institution for many members of the Chinese and Indian communities for which they have a virtual constitutional guarantee for it’s continued existence.
So, rather than pursuing something well near impossible, we are left with trying to find ways towards greater unity while acknowledging the continued existence of different systems in our education system. For a few years, the government’s flagship program to break down the walls that separate our kids has been the national service stint in which SPM leaders are selected at random to spend three months in a quasi-bootcamp where they are taught leadership, teamwork, civic virtue, nation-building in a contained environment.
The architects of the program believed that this could be the magic panacea to cure racial polarisation, social ills and instill a much needed “Malaysia Boleh” sense of pride and patriotism which is apparently not pronounced enough among our youth.
As someone who served on the first national service training council (the body tasked with overseeing the implementation of the programme), I was able to visit some of the camps during the training period. It goes without saying that most participants have fun during their stint. For most young people, the opportunity for adventure and to bond with others of the same age is something that they would naturally be attracted to.
Hence, when the government releases surveys done on national service participants, it is no big surprise that most of them enjoyed their three months. But beyond a superficial analysis of feedback from national service participants, we need to ask whether or not the program has succeeded in making young Malaysians mix around better with one another and, more importantly, believe that the national interest always trumps sectarian or communal considerations.
Anecdotal evidence suggests the situation is less encouraging than one might hope, for the simple reason that many participants enter the program having grown up in relative ethnic isolation. Formative years do not begin at age 17 or 18, when perspectives – including those regarding communal identities – have most likely hardened. I dare say it has never been clear how three months after SPM can possibly overcome years of polarisation. There is of course nothing inherently wrong with the national service programme; but we need to take a step back and face the very real probability that we asking far too much of it – it is not the magic panacea.
Now, if our goal is inculcating a sense of national identity over and above communal persuasions, why not begin at precisely those formative years of a child’s life? During my speech, I touched on the Student Integration Plan for Unity (RIMUP).
Initially introduced in 1986 but never gained a foothold until its revival as a key initiative under the National Education Blueprint 2006-2010. It has since withered away once again. Involving primary school students of different races from national and national-type, vernacular schools to regularly engage in a range of usually co-curricular activities, we have in RIMUP a practical and actionable initiative to encourage early inter-ethnic interaction.
It is actionable in as much as it does not require us venturing into the constitutional and political labyrinth of arguing for a single school system or sidestepping political landmines associated with the Vision School proposal (putting one national school, one Chinese school and one Tamil school in the same compound). It is practical because its nature as an activity-based program on school grounds means RIMUP does not involve extensive infrastructural commitments.
The potential and relative ease of implementation thus makes it rather curious that, across the levels of policymaking and discourse, RIMUP is not given anywhere near the attention it deserves. A study conducted by school inspectors in 2007 revealed that only 27% of schools were extensively and regularly involved in RIMUP activities. Further, only 12% of them conducted post mortems or discussions on how to improve activities organized under RIMUP.
The figures on fiscal expenditure are not much more flattering. RIMUP was allocated only RM25.8 million in 2007. Compare this to the public spending on the national service programme, which stands at an average of RM595.7 million per year from 2009 to 2011 – twenty times more than RIMUP. The glaring asymmetry is further illustrated by the fact that no details on RIMUP were provided in the Federal Government Spending Estimates for 2011.
When I finally received an answer from the Deputy Minister of Education on how much the Government has allocated for RIMUP in 2011, I almost couldn’t believe my ears when he said RM2.4 million. National service will receive RM564 million this year. You do the maths.
I urge the Government to immediately remedy the situation by revitalising RIMUP as a central initiative of promoting national unity organically, as it were. The national service has its many advantages but why pin the entire unity project on it when it can be supplemented by a rather understated program that is so readily incorporated into a child’s everyday life at school?
At stake is no less than the viability of this nation’s multicultural and multiracial character. For too long we have taken a disengaged stance about multiculturalism, self-enchanted by the rhetorical allure of ‘unity in diversity’ without necessarily promoting cross-cultural and cross-communal engagement.
This approach, I believe, is mistaken. A multiculturalism that is satisfied with leaving each other to live in parallel lives is inherently self-destructive; it engenders precisely the prejudices and paranoia that ‘unity in diversity’ is meant to displace.
1Malaysia implores us to move beyond tolerance for good reason – tolerance of the alien is never enough. Rather, a Malaysian identity requires, first, an empathic recognition of each other’s cultural particularities, and then an embrace of the ways in which cross-cultural contact may enrich our own lives. Postponing this project to age 17 or 18 will not do. Source here.
As a strong advocate of the Single School, allow me present to you our side of the story more clearly so that going forward you may have a better bearing in navigating the “constitutional and political labyrinth” with regards to this issue.
First of all there is No such thing as a Virtual Constitutional Guarantee with regards to the Continued existence of Vernacular School.
In fact it is actually against the Constitution of Malaysia and the National Language Act. Allow me to refer to two court judgements where the issue of medium of instruction in a Foreign Language have been put to test.
Case 1 Mark Koding
The question therefore arises as to the true interpretation of proviso (a) to Article 152(1). Having regard to the words used in the proviso, viz. “teaching or learning any other language” as opposed to “teaching or learning in any other language”, I tend to agree with the restricted meaning enunciated by Abdoolcader J when dealing with schools or other educational institutions. In my view, under proviso (a), although the National Language shall be the Malay language, the usage of any other language other than for official purposes, is guaranteed; so is the teaching or learning of any other language in schools, be it Chinese, Tamil, Arabic or English. But there is nothing in proviso (a) to justify the extension of the protection to the operation of schools where the medium of instruction is Chinese, Tamil, Arabic or English. This strict interpretation is consistent with proviso (b) which guarantees the right of the Federal Government or any State Government to preserve and sustain the use and study of the language of any other community in the Federation. Thus, the preservation and sustenance of usage of language of any other community is guaranteed. So is the preservation and sustenance of study of any other community’s language, but again there is no justification in extending the guarantee to the preservation and sustenance of study in the language of any other community in the absence of specific words to that effect. Any other interpretation of proviso (a) would result in abusing the words used in the proviso. It is absurd for instance to think that the proviso gives constitutional protection to teaching or learning in school where the medium of instruction is Russian or Japanese. To my mind, the protection only extends to language but not to medium of instruction in schools. In other words, no person shall be prohibited or prevented from teaching or learning Chinese or Tamil or, for that matter, any language which is not the national language in any school as a language subject, but such protection does not extend to the teaching or learning in a school where the teaching or learning is in any other language. As correctly stated by Abdoolcader J the omission of the preposition “in” after the words “teaching or learning” in proviso (a) makes the distinction necessary
Case 2 Merdeka University
Reading Article 152 together with the National Language Act, in our judgment, the law may be stated as follows:
* Bahasa is the national language;
* Bahasa is the official language;A person is prohibited from using any other language for official purposes — subject to exceptions as regards the continued use of the English language allowed by s 4 and of other languages by other provisions of the National Language Act;
* No person shall be prohibited or prevented from using (to be specific) Chinese for unofficial purposes;
* No person shall be prohibited or prevented from teaching Chinese;
* No person shall be prohibited or prevented from learning Chinese;The Federal or a State Government has the right to preserve and sustain the use and study of the language of any non-Malay community — as indeed the Federal Government is doing in school and at the Institute of Technology, Mara, and in the Departments of Chinese and Indian Studies and in some other departments at the University of Malaya where even Arabic, Japanese, Thai and other languages are taught. (This right belongs to Government).
Government cannot legally prohibit or prevent MU from teaching and offering courses to enable students to learn Chinese.
But the crucial question is: would MU be prohibited from teaching in Chinese as the sole or major medium of instruction? It certainly would if it is a public authority, for then the use of Chinese there would be use for an official purpose which the Constitution read together with the National Language Act says is prohibited.
And this is their decision
In any event, bearing in mind the history of education in this country and the divisive results of allowing separate language schools and the lesson learned from the experience of our neighbour with a private university and the determination of Parliament to so regulate schools and universities and education generally as an instrument for bringing about one nation out of the disparate ethnic elements in our population, we have no choice but to hold, as we have already held, that MU if established would be a public authority within Article 160(2) of the Constitution and that accordingly teaching in Chinese there would be use of that language for an official purpose, which use may be prohibited under Article 152.
As there is no right to use the Chinese language for an official purpose, accordingly in our judgment it was not unconstitutional and unlawful of Government to reject the plaintiff’s petition to establish MU.
We would therefore dismiss this appeal with costs.
For more details on the Legal Basis go here
To be completely honest with you YB Khairy, I’m bored of writing about this subject, especially to address the misconception with regards to the “Constitutional Guarantee”, too many people are walking around like zombies believing in this “Virtual” non existence guarantees.
If you don’t mind me asking, which part of the Constitution says that there is a “Virtual Guarantee”? As an MP you of all people should have studied the document better and to actually look at Article 152 and our National Language Act and perhaps inquire further how they have been interpreted in the court of law.
How did you come up with such strong conclusions that it is impossible and you actually use the words ” I doubt that any Government would commit themselves to this….” YB Khairy, is it not the objective of the Government and the Members of the Parliament to ensure that all the provisions of our Constitution and the National Language Act is adhered to?
MORE QUESTIONS WERE ASKED HERE…
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An honest opinion on YB Khairy’s speech
In his closing speech just now YB Khairy Jamaluddin called for his Pemuda members to “cakap yang benar biarpun pahit”.
With that in mind, I would like to take this opportunity to review his policy address which he made this morning. It won’t be a pleasant read for some people but since we are in the spirit of telling the truth and in the spirit of improving ourselves for the better, we shall dissect and make some sense to what he was trying to say.
First off, his speech was entitled “MAQASID DAN MANHAJ PERJUANGAN”.
Why do we have to Arabicize Malay words?
Maqasid means ‘matlamat’ while Manhaj means ‘pendekatan’. Please don’t do an Anwar Ibrahim and try to substitute proper Malay words with Arabic words. It makes you sound phony and trying too hard; just like Anwar Ibrahim.
Somebody told me that instead of dismissing his speech outright, I must give credit to where it’s due. That is fair enough. In all 73 paragraphs of his speech, not all needs to be criticised. Some have good arguments and there are a few that I can relate to. But there are a few paragraphs that I do not agree with and this is where I vent my frustrations towards this Ketua Pemuda of United Malay National Organisation.
Some of these paragraphs are:
As UMNO Youth Leader, I meet many young Malays from all levels of society. When I speak of the NEP and the Malay struggle, they retort: “Pardon me, but what have I ever received from the NEP?” Their incomes are below the poverty line, many of them have migrated to cities where the cost of living rises faster than what they earn. These are Malays, Bumiputeras, but they have never enjoyed the fruits of the NEP. Their perception is that the NEP only enriches a few elite Bumiputeras with strong political links. For these youths, the 30 percent equity target does not mean anything because most of them never have and never will be able to purchase shares. This is yet another example of leakages where the NEP, which was rooted on the notion of prosperity for all, ended up being seen as an elitist policy resulting in many Malays sidelined and not looked after.
I find this very alarming coming from the Ketua Pemuda himself. Is he saying that his understanding of the NEP is limited to the number of shares and equity holding of the Malays? How sad that he cannot rebuke those young Malays that he met using arguments that the NEP had given them access to a lot of opportunities that did not exist before NEP was created?
All the many universities that were built, all the funds that were set up to pull the Malays out from hardcore poverty, all the many schools that was built when not many were built before 1970; all these were part of the NEP that these young Malays are given privilege to enjoy. All these are direct benefits that come from the NEP. These are only a few examples that Khairy could give to them. He could even say that business opportunities are given to them if they work hard. In the days before the NEP an ordinary Malay could not have access to these opportunities even if they had worked hard because no opportunities were given to them. Access was limited.
If Pemuda Umno cannot rebut a simple retort from the simple young Malays he met all these while, then he therefore does not know what NEP is and certainly do not know the history of Umno’s struggle. Yet, he made a highly rhetorical statement in one of his paragraphs:
What is required today is a politics based on thoughts and ideas. The current political sphere is no longer entirely about the struggle for power, but a competiton of minds, a battle of ideas. Like it or not, those who challenge our political ideology must be defeated through the sharpness of our intellect and the superiority of our arguments, not by relying on executive power.
What sharpness of intellect can we really see here when he could not even properly explain to the young people the successes and the benefits NEP had brought to the Malays? Instead, he had used the raw, unprocessed thinking of those young ones (who really should have been educated further by Umno Youth) as the justification to condemn the NEP further.
I am further inclined to believe that Umno Youth is not focusing on the ‘software’ of the youth generation. Instead, they are focusing on the hard figures. Yes, you have gained new members. Yes you got new voters. But what kind of members and new voters do you have? Ones that do not know why, how and what the objectives of Umno are?
Does all the Umno youth members know the history of its ‘matlamat’ and ‘pendekatan’? Even the Ketua Pemuda doesn’t seem to know it. If not, he could have easily swayed the youth not to be too critical of the NEP. You do not have to offer them shares or business contracts just to make them love the NEP mind you.
There is a paragraph that I do not understand due to the underlying contradiction:
The new manhaj must be guided by merit and needs. Merit stresses on staying power and competitiveness. Merit means the Malay who has the ability, talent and high potential will be discovered, assisted along the way and given ample room to succeed. Merit also demands a level playing field so that the most innovative of farmers, the most diligent of traders, the most knowledgeable of professors and the most competent of contractors are provided with all the encouragement necessary without barriers in the form of political interests or the lack political connections. God-willing, with the inculcation of these new values and culture in the manhaj of empowerment for our people, the Malays will be better equipped to compete on the world stage, without the need for ‘crutches’ anymore.
So, a Malay who has the ability and talent will be discovered and helped and encouraged along the way to be successful. That is what he call ‘merit based system’. Isn’t all these ‘help’ and ‘encouragement’ can be termed as ‘crutches’?
Or in other words, one of the many policies in the affirmative actions of the NEP?
I am confused with Khairy’s definition of meritocracy. It contradicts itself. It is certainly not the same with the meritocracy concept which Lim Kit Siang proposes.
Plus, Khairy should be the last person to talk about meritocracy because all the years he has been in politics, he gained prominence through sheer nepotism. If he had not married into Tun Abdullah Badawi’s family, where do you think he could be now? Certainly not as Ketua Pemuda because he could have never won the Deputy Umno Youth Chief unchallenged in 2004. He won it because he was the infamous son in law of the current Umno President at that time.
He then spoke at length on the Malay unity. When the Deputy President last night touched on the importance of Malay unity, Khairy seemed to think that there is nothing we can do about in unifying the Malays for the sake of greater good. He even resigned to state that:
“saya juga sedar bahawa telah terpahat dalam sejarah yang Melayu itu jarang sekali bersatu. Dalam lipatan sejarah moden, kecuali dalam penentangan terhadap Malayan Union dan perjuangan kemerdekaan, orang Melayu acap berpecah terutama dalam pemahaman dan ideologi politik.”
Although he did not reject the possibility of Malay unity, he stated that:
We must accept the reality that today the Malay vote is split. There is no Malay party – be it UMNO or PAS – that can secure a hundred percent of Malay votes. In many areas, the Malay political split is such that 50 percent are on one side and 50 percent on the other. This means that any side wanting to win, must win with the support of all Malaysians, regardless of race and religion. If we hope to rely on the Malay vote alone, we should be mindful that there are only 73 Parliamentary seats with a dominant Malay majority of 70 percent and above. Such is the reality.
We must learn from the results of the last General Elections where we almost relinquished power due to the loss of support from non-Malays. If we still subscribe to the illusion that we can win without their support, then 50 seats currently held by BN are in grave danger. If there is no concerted effort to practise an inclusive and moderate leadership, UMNO’s Malay leadership will disappear come the next election.
Most assuredly the main responsibility of winning over support from non-Malays lies on the shoulders of certain component parties. Whatever weaknesses they have must be overcome immediately and the responsibilities entrusted upon them must be vigorously carried out. But in the current state of politics – moreoever with the concept of 1Malaysia being our collective compass – Malaysians want to see a BN that can practise the values of camaraderie, justice and fairness.
Those are the words that kept niggling in my conscience. I stated in my previous article that Umno must understand their role in Barisan Nasional. Umno must be at the forefront of the Malay struggle. Obviously when Umno is fighting for Malay empowerment and rights, it doesn’t contradict the Constitution. So there is nothing to be afraid of.
Barisan Nasional is the multiracial party that governs the government.
Umno, MCA, MIC and a dozen of other component parties must perform their roles for each of their community or groups of the same political idealogy.
If MCA and MIC have not been inclusive in their own party conventions, and have not shown us the values of camaraderie, justice and fairness, why should Umno subrogate the roles of those two parties in wooing their voters?
Isn’t it easier to be find ways to unify the Malays in Umno and Pas rather than Umno putting on multiple caps just to please others?
Unification of the Malays will make make the Malays even stronger. Is this not the ‘matlamat’ of Umno Youth?
I have said many times, the easiest way for the component parties to win any voters is to stick to the Constitution. All BN parties must ‘perjuangkan Perlembagaan Malaysia’. The spirit of the Constitution must be upheld. No parties will feel left out if everyone of them stick to what our founding fathers had laid out for us. We are all guided by it.
And for everything that is holy in the universe, Barisan Nasional lost support in General Elections 2008 was not solely because Umno lost support of the non-malays. People of all races did not vote Barisan Nasional because the leadership at that time was corrupt, arrogant, too flamboyant and did not manage the economy well. If you identified wrongly the causes of the losses, you will administer the wrong prescriptions to the problem. Hence, the wrong diagnosis and prognosis of the Ketua Pemuda in the paragraphs mentioned above.
Therefore, I am disappointed with the way Pemuda Umno is going.
I was further left disappointed when he said this:
When we fail to understand and appreciate the feelings of other races, the barriers that separate us become higher and thicker. Young Malaysians live within the confines of their own ethnic communities. The young Malay who attends religious school, a Middle Eastern university and watches Malay programs on Astro Ria is alien to the young Chinese attending a vernacular school, a Taiwanese university and entertained by Wah Lai Toi. Each perpetuates mutual prejudices because of these barriers that exist.
Stopping short of calling for a single stream education for Malaysia, he recognised the barriers but dared not say any viable solution for these problems. Instead he added on:
The 1Malaysia concept needs to be held as a shared aspiration amongst all races. Community life in a multi-ethnic country certainly demands much patience and courtesy from everyone. We should not hastily pointing fingers at each other in the face of any issue, big or small. We need to understand the feelings of other people if we want them to understand ours. We all need to imagine ourselves in each other’s shoes, assume we swap places, switch fortunes, only then can we appreciate the universal truth that our shared humanity unites us more than it divides. Malaysians need to give and take between one another and this by no means entails one side only taking and the other only giving. Let the fate and future of this country, whether we fail or succeed, be determined together by us all.
Please tell us how all those above can be achieved after the paragraph before it had exposed the huge problem of our society? How can Malaysians understand the feelings of one another if they live in a segregated society? It easy for him to say rhetorical things like this but coming way short on the substance. The solution is staring straight in our face yet the Ketua Pemuda, the one who tried to be inclusive and propagating collective interest of the nation seemed to be too timid to even mention this.
Those above are the things that irritate me the most during his speech this morning. I also do not agree when he said something about the May 13, 1969 incident. But the sharp among us can see the shortcomings of that particular paragraph without me elaborating it further.
Other than the things I mentioned above, the speech was commendable. I apologise if this is a bitter pill to swallow. But I must for the sake of Agama, Bangsa and Negara. Thank you.
